Carrying case for motion-picture reels



March 7, 1950 M. BARNr-:T'r

I CARRYING CASE FOR MOTION-PICTURE REELS Filed April 29, 1947 INVENIOR,

t, ,wm r H M w. @y MB Patented Mar. 7, 1950 CARRYING CASE FOR MOTION-PICTURE REELS Morris Barnett, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application April 29, 1947, Serial No. 744,672

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in containers or cases in which motion picture film is both stored and carried from place to place, and which are frequently referred to as carrying cases.

s claims,l (c1. 31a-2o) While the new type of case may be used with professional film, it has been especially designed for use by amateurs and othersI who use the smaller sizes of film, such as the standard 8 mm. and/or 16 mm. widths, and which is usually stored, except when being edited or projected, in shallow cylindrical receptacles or cans, each can being of such size as to receive a single reel of lm (or empty reels, as well, for that matter). Heretofore, cases for this purpose have been made of customary small trunk-like design, within which spaced partitions maintained the receptacles and their contents in upright position, when there were not enough to practically fill the case, and also to separate one can and its contents from another. Some cases have single receptacle-andreel compartments, while others have compartments that will nicely hold two, three or even four such units, but in any such case it has been found that the aggregate transverse thickness of all of the partitions for a dozen units reduces the capacity of the case by as much as two units.

Another object, therefore, is to provide an improved case, which is totally lacking in partitions of any sort, but which is in one form provided instead with strips of resilient means such as rubber or other suitable substance, secured to the normally forward and rear inside Walls between which individual receptacle-and-film units may be inserted at will in any desired sequence and spacing, while in addition to the two strips referred to there may also be mounted a third such strip upon the inside surfaceof the bottom wall, so that each of the one or more units within the case is pressed against said bottom strip by the lowering and latching of the hinged lid, it being optional whether a fourth strip is also secured to the inner surface of said lid.

With the objects thus briefly stated, the invention comprises further details of construction, which are hereinafter fully brought out in the following description, when readv in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig- 1 is a perspective view of a carrying case comprising one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the lower or base section of the same in ay larger scale andwith the lid removed;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section taken at the position indicated by the -line 3`3 of Fig. 2 and showing one-half of a receptacle in the right hand side of the case, while the potential position of the receptacle is shown in the left side of the case, as indicated by the dash and double-dot -line with a similar set of lines to show the lid in raised position; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a portion of one wall of the case with a portion of a receptacle positioned against it, and retained yieldingly in position by means of a modified form of resilient gripping element.

Referring to the drawings, a container that is customarily referred to as a carrying case, is

vshown as comprising fro-nt and rear walls l and 2, end walls 3, a bottom 4, and a lid 5 having depending marginal extensions I', 2', 3', which form when in closed position continuations of the respective walls 1,2 and 3. The lid is pivotally mounted upon the rear wall by means o-f one or more hinges 6, while the lid may be secured in closed position by means of a suitable drawtogether trunk latch 1.

The inner surfaces of each of said walls, lid and lid extensions are preferably though not necessarily covered by suitable material such as a soft, light-weight fabric 8, while secured to the inner surfaces of the front, rear and bottom walls are strips of relatively soft rubber or similar substance 9. These strips in fact may comprise synthetic rubber, natural rubber of the sponge or the relatively homogeneous types, or any other suitable resilient substance, While in Fig. 4 is shown a thin strip of metal or the like l, backed by a widely corrugated strip of light-weight spring steel i l or equivalent materials, of suchlassociated and cooperating nature that the full equivalent of a normal'rubber strip is simulated. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that the inner surface of the lid 5 may likewise be provided with sucha strip or its substitute, but this additional resiliency is not considered necessary i'n most cases. 'f

Each improved carrying caseis designed and 'constructed as to its internal dimensions in ac cordance with the particular size of film receptacle it is intended to house. 'I'hese receptacles, which are cylindrical and comprise lower or base sec'- tions and upper or lid sections, are relatively sha1'- low in height while much wider in diameter. They are inserted in the case by turning them upon a side, as shown in the drawings, and as their outer diameter is greater than the distance between the innervsurfaces of the forward and rearward resilie trips 9 (disregarding the cloth or other coverirra7 of downwardly towards the case bottom 4, at least the latter),V they have to be forced until they contact the lowermost resilient strip. In being pressed between the forward and rearward strips, said strips are positively compressed against their respective wall-surfaces, thereby preventing each such container from slipping forwardly or rearwardly, diagonally, or transversely sidewise. Then, upon the lid being lowered and the latches secured, the inner surface of said lid presses the film receptacle downwardly against and in compressing relation with the bottom resilient strip, with the net result that the receptacle is positively prevented fromshifting accidentally in any direction whatsoever within the case. l

Furthermore, instead of the positions of the receptacles being defined by and between par-v titions, they may be inserted individually or in groups anywhere between the two end walls and in any sequence or relationship. Also, although they are maintained against accidental shifting even under abnormal jarring, jolting and rough handling in general, they may be shifted manually sidewise suinciently to permit a third receptacle to be inserted between two already positioned, but too close together to permit ready insertion of the third. When needed for projection, editing, replacement, or otherwise, the receptacles and their contents may be withdrawn at will by simply gripping and pulling them from between the resilient strips that' hold them.

In Fig. 3 the two halves, separated by the central, vertical, dot-and-dash line, are shown as empty of a container on the left side, and the normal position of a receptacle therein indicated by the dash-and-double-dot line, while in the I right side a half receptacle is shown in full lines, where it compresses the rubber or similar strips substantially to the extent indicated, as compared with the expanded strips when not compressed by a receptacle in the left side. The covering of the walls and strips cannot be indicated in the small scale used between the receptacles and the strips compressed thereby, such covering being compressed and forced into the surfaces of said strips, and as the covering is not essential to the operation or functioning of said strips, it is not deemed necessary to show the construction in a scale large enough to include the covering in such relatively thin condition.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by' Letters Patent o the United States is:

1. A container for motion picture lm receptacles, comprising front and rear walls, and resilient means carried by said walls between which lm receptacles are adapted to be inserted, such a receptacle spanning and being tangential to a plurality of the corrugations o said means, the

.distance between said means in the absence of such receptacles being less than the width of said receptacles, and the spanned corrugations being flattened by the insertion of receptacles between them.

2. A container for motion picture lm receptacles, comprising front, rear and bottom walls, l,

resilient corrugated means carried by said walls, and a lid adapted to be secured in closed position, the resilient means of said front and rear walls being attened by the insertion of a nlm receptacle between them, and the resilient means upon said bottom wall being compressed by such receptacle as it is forced downwardly by the closing of and engagement by said lid.

3. A container for motion picture lm receptacles, comprising front and rear walls, and strips of resilient corrugated material carried by said walls between which film receptacles are adapted to be inserted with such receptacle being tangential to a plurality ol the corrugations oi said material, each of said strips being of substantially the same length as the interior of said walls, and the distance between the inner surfaces of said strips in the absence of such receptacles being less than the width of the receptacles, and being compressed by the insertion of a receptacle between them in any position between the ends of said strips.

4. A container for motion picture iilm receptacles, comprising front and rear walls, and resilient shallow corrugated means carried by said walls, between the inwardly projecting corrugations of which film receptacles are adapted to be inserted frictionally in tangential relation, the distance between said means in the absence of such receptacles being less than the width of said receptacles, and being flattened by the insertion of receptacles between them, it being possible to slide a receptacle transversely across said corrugations without first withdrawing it from the container.

5. A container for motion picture film receptacles, comprising oppositely positioned walls, a strip of resilient corrugated material carried by and extending the greater part of the length of one of said walls, the normal distance between the corrugations of said strip and the opposed wall being less than the width of the receptacle,

f' so that insertion of the receptacle between them lattens the engaged corrugations oi said resilient material.

6. A container for motion picture lm receptacles, comprising oppositely positioned side walls and a bottom wall connecting said walls, a strip of resilient corrugated material carried by one of said side walls, a strip of resilient material carried by said bottom wall, and a lid for said container adapted to be secured in closed position, insertion of a receptacle between the ridges of corrugations of said rst strip and the opposed wall compressing said first strip, while closing of said lid forces the receptacle against and in compressing relation with said bottom wall strip.

' MORRIS BARNETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 

